In a 2013 debate at American University, dissident feminist Camille Paglia told a remarkable story of an argument she had with fellow feminists in the early 1970s. When she remarked that males and females have hormonal differences, her colleagues told her that hormones are not real, they were only made up by a conspiracy of male scientists.

"I felt as if I had fallen down a rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland," Paglia recalled.

Liberals are down that same rabbit hole today on the issue of sex chromosomes.

As the transgender debate has heated up over the past few weeks, I've asked several of my liberal friends if they believe sex chromosomes are real. Disturbingly, none have answered thus far.

In the current debate over transgender bathroom use, acknowledging that sex chromosomes are real and that there are differences between a penis and a vagina would be to concede the conservative position, which would be to acknowledge there are objective reasons for bathroom use policies based upon biological sex differences.

Scientists tell us that one pair of the 23 chromosomes that comprise our DNA determine our sex. Those with XX chromosomes are female and those with an XY pair are male. These are the scientific facts we should all agree upon. (Note: a few of us are born with chromosome or genital abnormalities, but this is not the same as being transgender and therefore not relevent to this discussion.)

If pushed, I don't think any of my liberal friends would actually deny the existence of sex chromosomes, but when the discussion is related to transgender people, they effectively pretend that sex chromosomes don't exist. It's the logical extension of their argument, even if they don't believe it.

Liberals vs. Conservatives on Gender

As I explained in a June, 2015 article, "What Liberals Think About Transgenderism," the typical liberal view is that sex and gender are two different things. Sex is determined by your chromosomes and genitalia. Gender is determined by the individual and is in their brain. While most of us have a sex that matches our gender, those who are transgender have a gender that is opposite of their sex, liberals say. Some also identify as genderless (agender), a gender other than male or female (third gender, third sex, or othergender), both genders (bigender or intergender), or as someone who goes back and forth between the two genders day-to-day, or even minute-to-minute (genderfluid).

The conservative position is that sex and gender are the same. Those who believe their gender is different from what their sex chromosomes and genitalia indicate are suffering from gender dysphoria and can recover with proper mental health treatment.

In short, liberals believe that gender identity is a person's true nature and something is wrong with a transgender person's sex, which can be treated with hormones, surgery or simply changing how they dress; conservatives believe that biological sex is a person's true nature and there is something wrong with a transgender person's gender identity, which can be alleviated with psychological and psychiatric treatment.

Gender Trumps Sex?

Liberals argue that using language to describe sex differences (male and female) is discriminatory when discussing transgender people. But if sex differences are real, why is it improper to use language to describe those differences? Apparently, liberals consider it disrespectful to bring up these scientific facts when talking about transgender people. Anyone who doesn't follow these liberal rules are considered ignorant and bigoted.

Read, for instance, how GLAAD describes transgender: "Transgender is a term used to describe people whose gender identity differs from the sex the doctor marked on their birth certificate. Gender identity is a person's internal, personal sense of being a man or a woman (or someone outside of that gender binary). For transgender people, the sex they were assigned at birth and their own internal gender identity do not match."

Sex is described here as something "the doctor marked on their birth certificate," rather than based upon scientific facts — chromosomes and genitalia.

This is typical of how many liberals talk. While sex and gender are supposedly two different phenomenon, they favor gender and have difficulty admitting that sex differences are real, as if gender is the only real phenomenon and sex is a figment.

When a baby is born, the first words they hear are typically "it's a boy" or "it's a girl." Even after the advent of sonograms, and fewer surprises, the announcement of a newborn's sex is a source of joy. But now such a declaration is considered outdated, as if there's something wrong with stating clearly what one sees with their own eyes.

Science Research on Gender

While those in the transgender (and other identities) community truly believe they belong to a different gender than their chromosomes indicate, believing something is true does not make it so. There is no scientific basis for such a belief.

There are some scientific studies that liberals claim support their views about gender. Much of the research demonstrated that certain areas of a transgender person's brain are different from that of a cisgender (not transgender) person. For some reviews of those studies, see here and here. This research has led liberals to describe transgender females as having a "female brain" and transgender males as having a "male brain."

While the results could be consistent with the liberal beliefs about gender, these studies haven't proven those beliefs correct because the results are also consistent with what one can expect to find if conservatives are correct about transgender people. Whether you think transgender is a state of being that should be encouraged or a dysphoria that should be treated, the fact that a transgender person's brain is different is consistent with either position.

Additionally, our brains can change due to environmental factors. So the research itself doesn't tell us whether a transgender person was "born that way" or became that way some time after birth (or conception). Liberals, however, falsely claim that science proves being transgender is innate.

But even if future research demonstrates that being transgender is innate, that finding would also be consistent with both the liberal and conservative viewpoint. There are mental conditions that run in families. We provide treatment to people suffering from bipolar disorder, for instance. We don't avoid treating the condition because it's likely genetic. Offering help to someone with bipolar disorder isn't uncompassionate and doesn't "deny their dignity."

Liberals are elevating certain areas of undeveloped research to the level of scientific fact while effectively denying actual scientific facts. While they claim on the one hand that sex and gender are two different phenomenon, they now also conflate the two, as if sex chromosomes and genital differences aren't real, or we must pretend they aren't real for the sake of transgender people.

Where to Potty?

Liberals say bathroom access should be based upon gender identity while conservatives say bathroom use should be based upon biological sex. Since sex differences are real, having a bathroom use policy based upon sex differences isn't any more discriminatory than having bathroom use policies based upon gender identity.

The conservative position is that bathroom use should be based upon sex because our genital differences are the reason we provide sex-differentiated privacy in the first place.

The liberal counterargument to that position must effectively deny the existence of sex differences. Liberals have gone from arguing that sex and gender are two different things and both are real, to now arguing that sex and gender are the same and gender is real while sex is not.

For example, when President Barack Obama sent a letter to all public schools saying they could lose federal funding if their bathroom use policies were based upon sex and not gender identity, he based that decision upon Title IX. But Title IX disallows "sex discrimination" not "gender discrimination." So his letter conflates sex and gender and even gives preference to gender.

Throughout the letter, he uses the phrase "sex assigned at birth" instead of simply "sex," conspicuously avoiding any acknowledgment that sex is real. If sex is not real, then sex chromosomes are not real and there is no difference between a penis and a vagina.

"But liberals never say that," you may counter.

My response: "Exactly! Liberals are avoiding clear presentations of their arguments because clarity brings to light the absurdities of their position. A more effective argument for a liberal is to accuse anyone who disagrees with them of bigotry and/or stupidity. It's an awful tactic, but it's their best hand to play."

The debate over transgender people should continue, and conservatives should also avoid the types of fallacious arguments described above. But, what makes having an open and honest debate about this so intractable is that liberals are now using government force against those who disagree with them.

All schools, even private religious schools, and business owners in certain cities are being threatened with government sanctions if they do not base their bathroom use policies upon gender identity rather than sex.

Everyone is being told to go along with the delusion — pretend sex chromosomes aren't real or you will be punished.